


I can't take this anymore.

by palpietine



Category: Disney Duck Universe, DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Anxiety Attacks, Children, Della has a crush on Penny I guess?, Della spent a decade on the Moon, Disney, Family, Family Angst, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Secrets, Gen, Girl's got trauma, Launchpad has a crush on Penny I guess?, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Secrets, reference to past events
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:41:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23070367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/palpietine/pseuds/palpietine
Summary: Secrets are revealed, all because of a photo album.
Relationships: Della Duck & Donald Duck, Della Duck & Donald Duck & Scrooge McDuck, Della Duck & Penumbra (Disney: DuckTales), Della Duck & Scrooge McDuck, Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck, Donald Duck & Scrooge McDuck, Huey Duck & Dewey Duck & Louie Duck & Della Duck
Comments: 4
Kudos: 151





	I can't take this anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a couple of months ago and only now did I find time to actually edit it and post it. Enjoy!  
> Disclaimer: as the tags say, there will be reference of anxiety attacks and of PTSD. I don't have PTSD, but I've had anxiety attacks. I'm in no way a specialist though. I'm sorry if I haven't portrayed it the best I could.

That morning was very quiet in the manor, something quite unusual. Not that the change wasn’t welcomed, but it sure was rare. There usually wasn’t a day when the family didn’t have to face some supernatural enemy or sleazy criminal before lunch, and one of its members’ lives would most definitely be threatened before dinner. However, today seemed to be moving on more conventionally and calmly, with no drama or weird adventures keeping any of them busy...

Or, at least, that’s what it looked like, until Dewey run happily in the manor’s living room, where his mother and brothers were, holding something that resembled a huge book.

“Dewey, what are you holding?” Huey asked, curiously, and put down the book he was reading.

However, Della didn’t take long to realize what it was that her middle son was holding. “Dewey, are you holding what I think you’re holding?” she asked him enthusiastically and turned off the television, where previously she had put on one of the countless TV shows she had missed during her ten year absence from the planet.

“Yes, mom!” Dewey answered with the same enthusiastic tone his mom’s voice had previously. “I’m presenting you the one and only… drum roll please...” unfortunately, nobody pretended to do a drum roll for the dramatic reveal and Dewey, after sighing in disappointment, went on with his presentation. “… album with our childhood photographs!” he raised the album high, before making his way to the couch and sitting next to Della, album resting on his thighs.

“Where did you find it?” Huey asked Dewey and moved a bit closer to his mom’s left side.

“On uncle Donald’s boat. He had put it under some planks on the floor.”

“Why would uncle Donald put it there?” Louie wondered and stayed in his position, next to Dewey.

“It seemed weird to me too. It’s like he wanted to hide it or something.” Dewey shrugged his shoulders and changed the topic of the conversation, not giving time to any four of them to consider that, maybe, Donald _did_ want to hide it. “But nothing stays hidden for long when Dewey ‘Turbo’ Duck, the best detective in the world, is looking for it!” he bragged.

“Please, I doubt you’re the best detective in this mansion.” Louie commented sarcastically. “For some reason, I though the photo album was burnt two years ago, on the Fourth of July.”

“It was burnt, indeed, but I had kept copies of all the pictures in three flash disks.” Huey explained.

“Of course you did.” Louie said sardonically.

“When the album was burnt and uncle Donald got out of the hospital, we just made a new one.” Huey completed his sentence, before realizing that Louie wasn’t complimenting his organization skills previously. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Boys, calm down. It doesn’t matter. What’s important is that the photo album still exists and I can see what you were like when you were younger, since I was on the moon while you were growing up and I lost the first 10 years of your life!” Della talked with an overly joyful tone, as if trying to hide how bad that situation was. She closed the sentence with a quiet, creepy little laugh, which made her sons exchange nervous glances, without talking. “Also, you gotta tell me what happened on that Fourth of July, because there’s a chance that this event was similar to a Chinese New Year’s your uncle and I spent in Beijing when we were twenty.” Della continued using her usual tone.

“Um, okay mom.” Dewey answered, a bit uncomfortable with his mom’s sudden mood swing, and opened the album. “Look! Here are the three of us as babies.” Dewey pointed at one of the first pictures.

“You’re so tiny here!” Della almost screeched with enthusiasm. “Is the duckling with the blue bib you, Dewey?”

“Yep! The one and only!” Dewey answered proudly. “Here, I’m trying to crawl. I was always the most advanced out of the three of us!”

“I think the correct term would be ‘the most impatient’.” Huey commented before showing something in the photo. “The baby with the red rattle is me. Uncle Donald says I used to go everywhere with it until I turned sixteen months old. I used to shake it all the time, according to him.”

“So you’ve always been that annoying?” Louie told Huey, making him roll his eyes, before turning to the picture as well. “Now, unless we do have a fourth brother...” Della went to interrupt her youngest son before Dewey mouthed to her that he’d explain that later. “… the last baby in the picture is me. As you can see, I’m sleeping with a green blanket.”

“You have saliva running from your beak!” Dewey pointed out and laughed.

“I was 3 weeks old, Dewey!” Louie shouted at Dewey, embarrassed.

“It doesn’t matter what you were doing in the photo.” Della said. “All three of you were cute and adorable. Not that now you’re not cute and adorable, but when you were babies you were even more, which is true for every person...”

“We get it, mom.” Huey interrupted his mom’s nervous monologue, before turning his attention to another photograph. “Look mom! Uncle Donald is feeding us in this picture.”

“I wouldn’t describe it as feeding. It looks more like a battlefield.” Della looked at the photo curiously. “How did you manage to get the lamp on the ceiling dirty?”

“When you’re 8 months old, nothing is impossible when it comes to making a mess.” Louie commented. “Though I think Dewey’s capable of doing that even now. Sometimes he eats like a real animal!”

“Hey!”

“I’m more concerned with the look Donald has here.” Della noticed. “Why does Donald look so...”

“Exhausted?”

“Hopeless?”

“Scared?”

“Actually, all together.” Della concluded. Her sons just shrugged their shoulders. “You must have been so tiring for your uncles when you were younger.”

“Our uncles?” Dewey wondered and furrowed his eyebrows.

“Do you mean uncle Gladstone and uncle Fethry?” Huey asked.

“What? No! I mean Donald and uncle Scrooge! They were they ones who raised you!” Della corrected, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it was for her. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for her sons, who, for a moment, looked at each other with eyes wide open from the shock. “Why would I mean Gladstone and Fethry?”

“Ah...” Huey looked down, as if the floor was the most interesting thing in the room.”

“Yeah...” Dewey rubbed his neck uncomfortably.

“But of course you’re talking about uncle Donald and uncle Scrooge!” Louie said confidently, even though his brothers could recognize that we was as stunned and surprised at the realization that their uncles hadn’t told their mom absolutely nothing about the fight they had when she disappeared. However, Louie knew how to lie and make his way around the truth, so, for now, he had to give the impression that uncle Scrooge was a part of their childhood from the beginning. They didn’t have time to think of anything else at the moment. “It’s just that uncle Scrooge was always so busy with his job, that Donald took care of us mostly, you know? That’s why Huey and Dewey were confused.”

“Oh, okay! I guess that makes sense!” Della accepted Louie’s explanation, bringing relief to all three of her sons, and she moved on to the next picture. “Here you’re at the park?”

“Yes! We were out in our strolls, when, suddenly, a swarm of bees attacked uncle Donald!” Dewey explained.

“How was I able to sleep, while uncle Donald was right next to me, making all that noise?” Louie wondered, as he pointed to a duckling with a green onesie sleeping in his stroll, right next to Donald, who, at the moment, was covered head to toe by bees.

“Louie, I’m 67 percent sure you’d have the exact same reaction, if that happened right now.” Huey commented, making Louie roll his eyes.

“Where’s uncle Scrooge?” Della asked out of the blue.

“In the kitchen, with uncle Donald.” Dewey answered.

“No, I meant in the photo.” Della clarified. “Uncle Scrooge would never miss the chance to spend dome time with his nephews in the park. Besides, uncle Scrooge loves parks, because you don’t have to pay to enter them!”

“Ah...” Huey repeated, and went back to looking at the floor.

“He’s taking the picture!” Louie managed to answer. “Uncle Scrooge is behind the camera, obviously, and is taking the picture!”

“Ah yes! How didn’t I think of this?” Della accepted her youngest son’s answer, once again. Then, all of her attention was drawn to another photo. “Who’s that girl hugging you?”

“That’s Dickie. She was out babysitter when we were little.” Dewey explained.

“Really, what happened to her? I don’t remember at all.” Louie wondered.

“She left to study at a university in another city when we were 6 years old.” Huey answered. “I haven’t heard any news of her since then.”

“Too bad. She was a really nice girl. And she was so much fun!” Dewey remembered. “She used to sing to us these old songs and make us dance. We always had a good time with her.”

“She looks very sweet in the photo.” Della smiled at the image of the teen duck, who had short, messy, blonde hair and a necklace with the peace sign hanging from her neck. “But I thought that Mrs. Beakley would be looking after you.”

“I’m sorry?” Huey wondered.

“Why are you saying that?” Dewey asked.

“I mean, since you were staying in the Manor, when Donald and uncle Scrooge would have been very busy, she’d be the one looking after you, right?” Della explained.

“Actually, you know...” Louie tried coming up with an excuse.

“Really, where is Mrs. B in the photos? And where is Webby? She grew up in the manor, too, so she should have been in the photos as well!” Della pointed out.

“Mom, they’re just photographs...” Huey tried to distract his mom.

Della went around the album with hurry, stopping for just enough time to observe at the countless photos. “I don’t see any picture of uncle Scrooge here, or of Mrs. Beakley’s, or of Webby’s. The only thing I see here is you three and Donald. Something is wrong here...”

The boys looked at each other anxiously. Even Louie couldn’t come up with a lie that could justify the absence of all these people from the photographs.

“Huey, Louie, can I tell you something real quick?” Dewey said out loud, before grabbing his brothers’ hands and taking them to another spot in the living room. There, each boy put one hand on each of his brother’s shoulders to create a circle, before Dewey whispered at his brothers. “What are we gonna do?”

“What do you mean? We’ll tell mom the truth! What other choices do we have?” Huey said, quietly.

“What? Are you crazy? We can’t just reveal to her what really happened!” Dewey objected. “She could get real mad! Do you want to make mom mad?”

“And what other solution do you suggest? Hide the truth from her for the rest of her life?” Huey said ironically.

“I’ll tell you what we’re gonna do.” Louie chimed in. “We could do what Huey said, but we won’t, because it’s stupid.”

“Hey!” Huey interrupted Louie.

“Or… we could tell her that the photos that have uncle Scrooge and everyone else disappeared because of some accident uncle Donald had, which wouldn’t be completely impossible...” Huey and Dewey nodded because, indeed, it wouldn’t have been the craziest thing that had ever happened to their uncle. “However, there is a middle way.”

“Louie, you either say the truth, or you don’t. There’s no middle way.” Huey observed.

“There’s always a middle way.” Louie added. “We’ll tell her that uncle Donald and uncle Scrooge are hiding something from her, and that she has to ask them about it.”

“But uncle Donald and uncle Scrooge must have a serious reason to be hiding the truth from her. Maybe they’re waiting for the right chance to do so.” Dewey replied to Louie.

“Yes, but it’s been weeks since uncle Donald came back, and months since mom came back. When will that chance come? Before or after we’ve become adults?” Louie answered. “Now, we have to tell mom something, and we can’t wait until our uncles have decided it’s the right time, because, simply, there won’t be a right moment for that!”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to lie to mom.” Huey shook his head.

“But we won’t lie to mom. We just won’t go into details.” Louie said. “Besides, the truth isn’t about us; we weren’t even out of our eggs then. Uncle Scrooge and uncle Donald are the ones who had a fight, didn’t talk to each other for 10 years and didn’t tell mom anything. They’re the ones hiding the truth from her, not us!”

“Louie’s idea isn’t so bad.” Dewey added and looked at his older brother. “What do you say?”

Huey hesitated for a moment before giving a final answer. He sighed and nodded. “Fine. That’s what we’re doing.”

“What are you doing?” Della chimed in from behind her sons, making the triplets screech in surprise.

“Well… we...” Huey tried talking and looked at Dewey in shock.

“We want to tell you that...” Dewey said before lightly hitting Louie with his elbow.

“Mom, there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for the absence of uncle Scrooge and more from the pictures.” Louie took action and talked smoothly he and his brothers out of confronting their mom. “However, you’ll have to ask uncle Scrooge and uncle Donald about it, because it’s about them, not us, okay? Good luck!” he added quickly and run towards the couch.

“Are you telling me that uncle Scrooge and Donald have secrets from me?” Della lightly laughed at the idea. “No way! Why would they do that?”

“Don’t ask us! We’re as surprised as you are.” Huey responded before following Louie’s idea of running towards the couch.

“And, since you know that secret, why aren’t you telling me what it’s about?” Della wondered jokingly.

“Because you’re gonna ask uncle Donald and uncle Scrooge about it! We just talked about that!” Dewey pushed his mom towards the kitchen. “They’re in the kitchen, aren’t they? I don’t think they’ll have any issue answering all of your questions about what is happening with the pictures.”

“Ah, okay, if you say so...” Della said, confused, and entered the kitchen.

Huey and Louie looked at Dewey with a look of displeasure as soon as their mom left the living room.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Dewey asked. “It’s not my fault if uncle Scrooge and uncle Donald told mom nothing and we found ourselves in an uncomfortable situation!”

“Anyway...” Huey picked up his book to continue reading it. “What do you think will happen?”

“I have no idea.” Louie said before opening his phone again and turning all of his attention there. “Either way, we’ll be there to learn.

“What are we gonna do with the album?” Huey pointed at the album, which Della had left on the couch open.

“Leave it there. I have the feeling we’ll need it later.” Dewey answered before starting to walk away from the room. “I’ll go find Webby. She’s been too quiet today and I don’t like that.”

“Do you think she’ll have managed to do something with that old pistol we found at the Money Bin to work?” Huey asked.

“I sure hope so!” Dewey responded ecstatically, as he moved away from the living room. “I mean, who knows what it’s capable of? It might open portals to alternate dimensions!”

“Yeah, right! We found it in the trash; it’s probably some old failed experiment.” Louie said sarcastically and put his headphones on.

“Good luck.” Huey called out to Dewey, but Dewey wouldn’t be the only one needing it.

* * *

Della looked in the kitchen, only to see that…

It was empty, safe for Mrs. Beakley, who was doing the dishes.

However, Della took notice of the abandoned cups, still filled with plenty of coffee, on the table, as well as plates still filled with a lot of food. Della knew her uncle well; he would never leave left-overs on his plate, even if his life depended on it. Therefore, Donald and Scrooge must have listened to the conversation she had with Huey, Dewey and Louie in the living room and run away as far as possible. Whatever that secret was, it must have been pretty serious for them to disappear just like that. She was previously joking about the secret, but now she _really_ wanted to know what had gone down.

Of course, Donald and Scrooge being absent didn’t mean that she’d stop being curious over the secret, or that she wouldn’t look for them. And she’d start by asking the last person who saw them: Mrs. Beakley.

“Mrs. B, how are you doing?” Della approached Mrs. Beakley and asked politely.

“I am, obviously, cleaning the dishes.” the housekeeper/bodyguard answered, without raising her head away from her task.

“Cool!” Della responded, before going straight to the point. “Did you see uncle Scrooge and Donald?”

“Unfortunately, I can’t tell you were Mr. McDuck is.” Beakley answered.

“He asked you that himself, didn’t he?”

“Correct.”

“Darn it!” Della exclaimed.

“Why are Mr. McDuck and Mr. Duck hiding from you?” Mrs. Beakley asked.

“I want to ask them about something that happened while I was away and they must have heard me talking about it with the boys.” Della answered, grabbed a metal spoon Mrs. Beakley had just cleaned and stared at her reflection on it. Even though it was upside down and hollow, she couldn’t stop glaring at her reflection. Had she told the boys about how she spent hours looking at it when she was on the Moon, simply because it was her only company? Had she told them she had been so desperate for human contact, because she thought she was all alone in the Moon? But, turns out, she wasn’t alone, but she still had spent 10 years all by herself and her reflection and…

“You were away for 10 years. Can you be more specific?” Mrs. Beakley commented and took the clean spoon away from Della’s hands, bringing her back to reality.

“Ah… ha ha very funny.” Della rolled her eyes, not fully recovered from… _that_. At least it seemed like Mrs. Beakley hadn’t noticed anything. “I was looking at the boys’ old photos and I noticed that my uncle didn’t appear in any of them, or Webby, or you, which I found strange. How could my sons live in the same house, with so many people, and not have any of them appearing in any picture?”

“Right...” Mrs. Beakley said, curious. She put down the plate she was holding and turned off the faucet, before turning to Della. Thankfully, she had put on a poker face; working as a spy provided you with tools that could be of help at the most impossible moments.

“So, I asked my sons about it, and they told me to ask uncle Scrooge and Donald. And I came here to ask them, but obviously I can’t, since they’re not here.” Della explained. Then, her eyes went wide open and asked, with an obviously fake sweet tone. “Perhaps you could tell me why my uncle is missing from the photographs, my dear Mrs. Beakley?”

“No, I doubt that revealing family secrets is under my jurisdiction.” she answered, as she dried her hands off on her apron.

“Come on! Della exclaimed in frustration. “Can you at least give me a clue?”

“About the secret or your uncle and your brother’s location?

“Both.”

“Listen...” Mrs. Beakley began talking. “You have to know that the secret you want to know about has a reason it’s a secret and you might not like it. However, I think Mr. McDuck and Mr. Duck are making a huge mistake by keeping it from you. One must be honest with the ones around them.”

“Weren’t you a spy?” Della interrupted. “Wasn’t your job… the exact opposite of what you just described?”

“I’ve learned to appreciate and demand the truth from myself and my loved ones, for this exact reason; I was forced to lie all the time.” Mrs. Beakley explained.

“Makes sense.”

“As to the whereabouts of those two, I promised your uncle I wouldn’t tell you where he went.” Mrs. Beakley continued. “However, I didn’t promise him to not tell you with whom he left. Mr. McDuck left with Mr. Duck, and Mr. Duck didn’t ask me to not tell you where he went, and he went to the garden.” Mrs. Beakley said, before giving Della a short blink.

“Thanks.” Della bid Mrs. Beakley goodbye and blinked back, as she walked to the nearest exit to the garden.

* * *

The garden was huge. Della knew that well, but had forgotten it when she decided to look for them there.

_It would have been easier if I was looking for a needle in a haystack._

However, she wasn’t planning to quit. She’d find some clue about her uncle and brother’s direction, even if it took her all day long.

As she searched in the garden for any sign that the people she was searching may have left, Della couldn’t not wonder what the ‘terrible’ secret she didn’t know was. Mrs. Beakley mentioned that she might not like it, so it must have been something very serious for them to be scared of revealing it… Or maybe it was something insignificant, but would annoy her personally! There was no way the secret was referring to a serious topic and they wouldn’t tell her about it! If it was so bad and had consequences still to this very day, Donald and Scrooge would have most definitely told her something. Surely it was something simple…

Maybe Scrooge had a terrible accident at some point and he injured his face badly and that was why he didn’t want to appear in any photos! And only after years of research and surgeries did the damage get fixed. Or maybe Gyro discovered some miraculous new drug that brought back her uncle’s face. Or maybe the injury was never healed and Scrooge is using holograms to hide his true face. Or maybe Scrooge had left Duckburg in search of a magical potion that would fix the damage, or some charm that would hide his wounds, or some secretive secret race of magicians/warriors who used the power of the stars to give him his face back. Or…

Of course, that explained only Scrooge’s absence from the photos, not of everyone else, but it was a start!

At some point, Della reached the shed, where she came across a… peculiar view: Launchpad was standing on top of his plane, wearing a parachute, while Penny was standing in front of the plane, arms crossed and an expression of disappointment drawn on her face, probably; it was hard to tell apart her friend’s expressions. Finally, Della walked close to her two friends to see what was going on.

“Hi, Penny!” Della greeted her friend. “I see you finally put on the black leather jacket you bought!” Della noticed happily.

“You mean the one you made me buy?” Penny corrected Della with a slightly annoyed tone. “Okay, I’ll admit it, it’s cool, it looks cool, it makes me look cool… you were right for convincing me to get it. And it looks nice with the rest of my Earth clothes, so...”

“You matched your clothes nicely today. A pair of jeans and a gray tank top? Not bad!” Della commented before turning towards the plane’s top. “Hi Launchpad! What are you doing on the plane?” she shouted at her friend, using her hands as a funnel to make herself sound better.

“Well, Penny was talking to me about how she didn’t feel ready to fly a vehicle from our planet, so I decided to help her trust her skills!” Launchpad answered, by shouting back.

“That’s very sweet of you, but how are you helping her if you’re on top of the plane?” Della asked, by shouting.

“It’s very simple, Della!” Launchpad responded. “But can you ask Penny to explain because I’m tired of speaking loudly?”

“Ah! Okay!” Della shouted for the last time, and turned to Penny, who was shaking her head in shame and rested her forehead on her hand. “Penny, how is Launchpad helping you fly, while he’s on a plane?”

“Launchpad will stand on top of the plane with no ropes or any other support keeping him steady, while I’m flying. That way, according to him, I’ll be trying to keep the plane steady harder, because I’d know that, if I lose control, he’ll do a free fall from over a 1000 feet off the ground.” Penny said with a serious tone, without of course hiding her sarcasm. “This is ridiculous. I’m not gonna do it.” she added, this time, clearly annoyed.

“But why, Penny” Della asked, eyebrows furrowed. “You’re a very good pilot! You aren’t gonna make any mistake and throw Launchpad. You could fly in an asteroid field with my whole family on top of the plane and we’d all survive.”

“Yes, but, if he goes on like this I’ll throw him on purpose.” Penny said, pissed off, and put her fingers through her short waves, leaving a tired sigh.

“Don’t be so mean, Penny. Launchpad is just trying to help!” Della pointed with her hand towards Launchpad who, at the moment, almost fell down after a failed attempt at balancing on one leg. “I didn’t like him at the beginning all that much either, but he’s good deep down. Why are you so hostile against him and not consider, at least, if his plan would help you?”

“Because it’s a stupid plan; period! And this isn’t the only stupid thing he’s done for me.” Penny explained, aggravated. “He’s constantly offering to help me with anything I do, usually in ways that jeopardize his physical health and my mental health. He’s always bragging for all his ‘extraordinary achievements’, which aren’t even that extraordinary! I may be aware of the existence of sandwiches for only a couple of weeks, but I’m certain building a ten-leveled one isn’t that incredible of a feat.”

“Trust me, it was an incredible feat.”

“You people of Earth have very weird criteria as to what should be deemed a feat or not.” Penny commented. “It’s not just that. For some reason he’s always… flattering me.”

“Flattering you?” Della wondered. “You mean, he’s flattering you in regards to your skills as a pilot?”

“He’s doing that too. I wouldn’t have a problem if it was just that.” Penny clarified. “For some reason, he’s been complimenting… my appearance.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for example, yesterday he told me my hair looked nice, and the day before yesterday he told me that my eyes have a nice color.” Penny said and looked up towards Launchpad, who was attempting to do a handstand on top of the plane. “Why is he doing that? What does he make out of it?”

“Penny, why didn’t you tell me that Launchpad has been flirting with you sooner?” Della asked enthusiastically. “We’re supposed to be best friends. You should have told me about this!”

“He has been… what?”

“He’s flirting with you… you know… what you do to someone you are into?” Della tried to explain. “What? Don’t you flirt back on the Moon?” she asked jokingly, but it didn’t take her long to notice that Penny was rubbing her neck uncomfortably and her lips had taken the shape of an awkward line, and Della got serious. “You… don’t flirt on the Moon?”

“What? No! It’s mot that! Of course we flirted back on the moon!” Penny explained in a rush. “It’s just that I haven’t… haven’t done that flirting thing...”

“What? Seriously?” Della wondered, stunned. How could a person, like Penny, not have any past relationships? Penny, in her eyes, had the whole package: beautiful, talented, smart, great pilot, surprisingly good with kids, as it was proven some days ago when she was taking care of the kids… Not that she thought about how good of a girlfriend Penny would have been often or anything! At least not often… 

“I’d always been so dedicated to Lunaris and protecting the Moon that I neglected my personal life.” Penny admitted with her head down.

“Wow, Penny, I didn’t know...” Della said. “I’m sorry that I brought it up. I didn’t...”

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault that I was blindly faithful to a maniac dictator.” Penny interrupted Della, having found her usual confidence back. “It’s better that you know. You’re my friend and I don’t want to keep any secret from you. You’re one of the few people I trust and I want to be honest with you.”

“Really, Penny? I’m so glad to hear that!” Della smiles, before remembering what she was doing before coming across her two friends. “Oh! Can I ask you something?” Did my uncle and brother come by?”

“Yes. They went to the garage, grabbed the limousine and left.” Penny answered with a serious tone.

“The limousine? Interesting...” Della commented.

“They looked worried. Do you know why?” Penny asked.

“Actually yes… sort of… it’s a long story.” Della explained. “In short, my sons revealed to me that Donald and uncle Scrooge are hiding a secret from me and I was planning on asking them about it, but they figured it out and now are trying to avoid me so that I don’t find them.”

“Seriously now?” Penny sounded surprised and annoyed with what she heard. “Do you want me to come with you to give them a lesson?” Penny suggested and her right punch hit hard her open left palm for emphasis.

“I appreciate your aggressiveness, but no.” Della looked at the garage. “I should probably first leave and try to locate them, Good luck with your flight.”

“Launchpad will probably need it more than me, but thank you.” Penny sighed with displeasure. “I want to throw him on purpose, in case he leaves me alone.”

“Don’t you like that he’s flirting with you?” Della asked. “Don’t you feel… charmed that he’s shown an interest in you?”

“I find him and his… flirting annoying. The only thing he does is get in my way every time I want to do anything.” Penny admitted and put her hands in her jacket’s pockets.

“Anyway, you better tell him straight that you’re not interested.” Della advised her friend. “I don’t think that, if you throw him from a 1000 feet off the ground that he’ll stop going after you.”

“You’re right. You people of Earth are persistent by nature, but he’s something else…” Penny sighed and turned to her friend. “I’ll see what I’ll do with Launchpad. Don’t worry about me; you have to find Donald and Scrooge. Really, how are you gonna find them? They left quite some time ago. You won’t start looking for them all over town, right?”

“I have a plan. Don’t worry.”

She did have a plan. And, for that to happen, she’d have to go to the Money Bin.

* * *

As Della drove Donald’s car, which she ‘borrowed’ after breaking in and connecting two wires together, like in the movies, to reach her destination, she thought about everything Mrs. Beakley and Penny had told her about honesty. It was a fact that one had to tell their closest people the truth and not hide anything. It was also very suspicious that Scrooge and Donald hadn’t told her anything all this time. Why wouldn’t they tell her the secret? Were they afraid of her reaction if she found out? Were they ashamed of it? Was the secret something they desperately wanted to hide from the world and they didn’t want it to leak by mistake? But what could be so creepy and be the reason that her uncle didn’t appear in any photos?

Maybe... Scrooge committed some crime and was sentenced to jail? No… Or maybe her uncle became some terrifying monster because of some magic shenanigan and didn’t want to be close to the boys. Or maybe Scrooge got involved with the wrong people and Donald didn’t want him to be close to the boys. Or maybe Scrooge was responsible for something very bad without wanting to and exiled himself for some years. Or maybe he disappeared in an adventure and went through some traumatic events. Or…

The possibilities were endless. She knew one thing for sure: no matter what had happened, they shouldn’t have been scared of telling her; she was family! As long as her uncle regretted his mistakes, there wasn’t any reason for her to not forgive him.

However, Della had to put aside any conjectures and scenarios, because she arrived where she wanted after lots of driving and walking: Gearloose Labs. When she went there, though, so became witness of a… peculiar view, once again.

“Gyro? Fenton? What are you doing there?”

The two inventors – or, according to Gyro, one inventor and one incredibly incompetent intern – were bent over some wooden boxes, who had half of their content spread out on the floor around them. Manny was standing beside them and watching them – if he could do that – and Lil Bulb was sitting on top of Manny’s statue head.

“Oh! Hello Della!” Fenton sat up and greeted her happily.

“Did anyone tell you you can stop searching? Continue!” Gyro ordered and Fenton turned with a pout at one of the boxes. “Well, as you can see Della, we’re in the middle of an investigation here. So, if you can let us continue, I’d appreciate that.” he said, annoyed, to Della and turned his attention to a box in front of him.

“And what are you looking for exactly?”

Gyro sighed, realizing that Della wasn’t planning on stopping asking about what they were doing. He looked towards Della and began explaining, slightly annoyed and bored, as usual. “A device that opens portals to alternate dimensions, which Fenton, of course, lost.” he pointed towards his intern. “I had shown it to Mr. McDuck when he came over to my lab with the children the day before yesterday, and, since then, I can’t find it and, obviously, who was the last person who saw it before it mysteriously disappeared? My intern!”

“I didn’t do it on purpose! I probably forgot what it was and put it in the trash thinking it wasn’t functional or put it in the wrong bag without realizing it or...” Fenton raised his head and tried to excuse what he did.

“I told you to keep looking!” Gyro shouted at Fenton, who followed his boss’ orders immediately. “And don’t try to justify your incompetence! It doesn’t matter why you lost the device. What matters is that you lost it. Do you know how many scientists would kill to have that device in their hands?”

“Why don’t you let me look for it too?” Manny asked Gyro by hitting his hooves together.

“Because you don’t have thumbs, Manny! How many times do I have to repeat that?” Gyro told Manny.

“Can’t you look at the cameras to see where Fenton left the device? Or track it using some other invention?” Della suggested.

“Of course Della! How didn’t I think of this sooner? How didn’t I, a world-renowned genius, consider some more practical way to search for my invention other than looking in some boxes?” Gyro responded with an obviously sarcastic tone, and quite pissed off. “Do you have any incredible ideas like this? Perhaps my device left footprints behind it and we can follow them with a large magnifying glass?”

“Yeah, I know that you’re insulting me right now. You can calm down.” Della interrupted him, pretty tired with the mad scientist’s irony.

“As I said previously, the device is a top secret. I couldn’t risk it being located by competitors in some way. All the security cameras have been turned off for days and I haven’t installed absolutely any tracking system. I assumed that if Fenton and I were careful enough and placed it back on its cabin after every use, it’d be enough. I assumed wrong, as you can see.”

“There’s no way it’s gotten far enough.” Della tried comforting Gyro.

“Yes, but it didn’t have to get anywhere! It should have stayed in my lab!” Gyro wasn’t listening to any of this. “I’m sure you lost it while you were busy with your girlfriend and you didn’t pay attention to where you placed the device!” he said, turning to Fenton, angry as usual.

“Girlfriend? Did everyone get a personal life all of the sudden?” Della told herself before remembering why she was there. “Gyro, can I ask you something? Is there a way to track Donald and uncle Scrooge with any of your devices?”

“I could locate them using Donald’s cell phone’s signal, but it’d be less tiring for me if I just told you that they’re hiding from you in the Boarding Room and asked me to turn off Donald’s cell phone’s signal when they came by.” Gyro answered dryly.

“Seriously now? And you’re just telling me like that?” Della asked curiously.

“I’m way too busy and intelligent to be wary of issues of zero significance, like being nice and discreet.” Gyro answered, before sighing. “Obviously, the device isn’t here either. Fenton, you have to rebuild the device from scratch and it’ll take you all night. Della, whatever you have to say to your brother and Mr. McDuck, go tell them now. I’m certain you’ll start screaming at each other, you’ll be heard all the way down here and distract Fenton; he doesn’t need any more obstacles other than his own incompetency.”

Della decided to ignore that Gyro implied that her family only solved their problems through fighting. Gyro was… Gyro and that wouldn’t change. “Don’t you wonder why my uncle and brother are hiding from me? Doesn’t it seem weird to you?”

“No.” he replied dryly.

“Wow. I was gone for 10 years and you still haven’t developed social skills.”

“I have more important stuff to do other than care about how to make people I’m not interested in be interested in me.” Gyro responded. “Besides, I know they’re hiding from you because you want to ask them about something that happened 10 years ago.”

“What? How? Did they tell you?”

“No, but Mr. McDuck, when you returned a couple of months ago, asked me to be careful to not reveal to you certain events that took place during the last decade. It didn’t take me long to figure out why he wanted to do that, and it didn’t take me long to figure out how today’s secretiveness is connected to his past secretiveness.” Gyro confessed. “I don’t have any issue keeping secrets, but I’m not gonna encourage your irrational family tradition to create dramatic situations you could have easily avoided if you had logic. Especially if this behavior results, among other things, in me wasting my precious time to help some of your relatives hide. I’ve been working for Mr. McDuck for over 10 years and I’ve already had enough.”

“I agree with Mr. Gearloose. My mom and I never kept secrets from each other.” Fenton chimed in. “Or, rather, I didn’t keep any secrets from her. I’m not good at keeping secrets.”

“And nobody is surprised about that...” Gyro added, bored, and nobody was surprised about that either. “Just… get your relatives out of the Boarding Room, okay?”

“Okay, I should be going then...”

* * *

Della was getting closer and closer to the Boarding Room’s door, perhaps dangerously close. And she was starting to get worried. How could Gyro, a person who didn’t like being in contact with other beings, let alone guarding their family secrets, knew what it was that was being hidden from her? Why would Mrs. Beakley be aware of what happened, when she wasn’t even working for her uncle yet, when she disappeared? Why would her sons have knowledge of something that happened when they were little ducklings? Did Launchpad know the secret?

What exactly had happened? Why did everyone know the secret, except of her? Why did she end up chasing after Donald and Scrooge, when the only thing she wanted to do that day was watch television and hang out with her sons? Why couldn’t she have one normal day, for once? She’d spent 10 years on the Moon; she had had enough weird days for a lifetime.

She was ready to open the half-way open door, when she heard a voice that, undoubtedly, belonged to her brother, shouting from inside the room.

“I can’t believe you convinced me into hiding here! Out of all the places that we could choose!”

“Do ya have any better ideas, nephew?” Della recognized her uncle’s voice being sarcastic towards Donald.

“No, but any other idea would have been better than yours!” Donald replied exasperated. “Can’t you think by yourself that hiding inside the Boarding Room in your Money Bin was a stupid idea? It’s too obvious!”

“This is exactly why ma idea is genius!” Scrooge defended his plan. “Della wouldn’t think that we’d be so stupid as to hide ‘ere, so she won’t look for us ‘ere.” Della nodded because, indeed, she didn’t think they’d be so stupid as to hide there.

“It’s still a bad idea.” Donald insisted and sighed. “How long are we staying here?”

“Not long. Some days at most.”

“Days?” Donald screamed and, even though she was probably pretty far away from him, Della sensed a pain in her ear from her brother’s voice’s intensity.

“Ah don’t fancy that scenario either, lad.” Scrooge explained. “We have to think of whit to say and we need time. If Dewey didn’t have that incredible idea of showing her the photo album...”

“None of this is Dewey’s fault!” Donald interrupted his uncle. “It’s our fault for not being honest with her from the start.”

“Ah ken that, but...” Scrooge sighed. “But ah don’t want tae hurt her. She spent 10 years on the Moon, all alone. Ah can’t do this tae her...”

“I don’t wanna hurt her either...” Donald responded and Della could picture Donald lowering his head. “But Della is an adult, just like both of us. We can’t hide the truth from out of fear that she’ll feel bad.”

“True. You ur right.” Scrooge admitted. “But, for now, we will stay ‘ere. Ah have couches in the office and pillows and sheets in a cupboard for when ah stay ‘ere until late to work. We will settle down ‘ere, if it’s necessary.”

“Is that how you deal with the problems you have with the people you love?” Donald asked jokingly. “No wonder we were mad at each other after a fight for 10 years and that you never got together with Goldie.”

“Whit?” Scrooge exclaimed, obviously in regards to the second part of the sentence.

“What?” Della exclaimed, obviously in regards to the first part of the sentence. Immediately, she realized that her voice was loud enough to be heard in the Boarding Room, and she covered her beak, as if that would lower the loudness of a word that had already been said. But that was the only thing that came in mind from the shock.

_Donald and uncle Scrooge were mad at each other after a fight?_

_And they were mad at each other for 10 years?_

_So almost for as long as she way away?_

_Why? And what did it have to do with the pictures?_

“Della? Are you there?” Donald asked and Della could make out the surprise and fear in his tone.

“Della...” Scrooge followed, also surprised and scared. “Just… just come in, lass.” Scrooge finished and sighed.

Della opened the door and, with slow steps, walked in the room. She looked at her brother and uncle, who was sitting on one of the chairs, holding his cane in his hands. They smiled sadly at her, trying to avoid her glance.

“So that was the big secret? That you had a fight?” Della spoke first, after some endless moments of uncomfortable silence, shocked not at the secret itself, but its absurdity. “I’ve been looking for you all day to ask you what had happened, and it was just a fight? That was the terrible thing that happened 10 years ago?

She wanted to be angry, she really did. She wanted to be angry at uncle Scrooge, at her brother, at all the people who knew the secret and simply didn’t tell her, at Dewey for bringing the album and getting her curious and leading her to this ludicrous chase. But she couldn’t; she was just tired and wanted the truth.

“Della, whit happened wasn’t just any argument, unfortunately.” Scrooge said. “We can explain everything...”

“Good! I’m all ears!” Della responded and sat on a chair, on the other side of the table than the one Donald and Scrooge were located at.

“Okay.” Donald sighed. “When you disappeared, I blamed uncle Scrooge for your disappearance, because he built the rocket you flew in when you disappeared.”

“And, of course, ah refused tae take responsibility for it.” Scrooge added. “We had this huge fight over it.”

“In the end, I took the eggs and left the Mansion. I decided to raise the boys by myself.” Donald concluded. “We didn’t talk for over 10 years after this. Huey, Dewey and Louie didn’t know anything about either you or uncle Scrooge, all this time.”

“I can’t believe this.” Della mumbled. Even if she didn’t know what to expect when she asked to learn what happened, she certainly didn’t expect… _this_.

 _They didn’t talk to each other for 10 years because they argued because_ I _disappeared._

 _They didn’t talk to each other for 10 years because_ I _thought it was a good idea to take a rocket and fly it, a little bit before I became a mother._

 _They didn’t talk to each other for 10 years… because of_ me _._

“Ah know, Della...” Scrooge said to his niece. “Ah am sorry that we hided it from you, but we were afraid ye would be mad at us if ye learned the truth, even if yer anger was justified.”

“But it doesn’t matter now, because uncle Scrooge and I have reconciled and you came back!” Donald added with a happy tone, but he noticed that his sister had a frozen and distant expression on her face, as if my her mind wasn’t in that room with her. He exchanged a worried glance with Scrooge and they both waited for her reaction.

“This is all my fault.” Della said with a tone too calm for the circumstances.

“What?” Donald exclaimed.

“Della, whit ur ye saying?” Scrooge asked, taken by surprise by Della’s words.

“The truth. It’s my fault that you had a fight.” Della replied, in the same tone she had previously. “If I didn’t make the stupid decision to fly the ‘Spear Of Selene’, I wouldn’t have disappeared and you two wouldn’t have gotten into a fight and uncle Scrooge would have been in the boys’ photos.”

“You would have also been in the photos if you didn’t fly the rocket...” Donald commented, which resulted in him being elbowed by Scrooge. “Ouch!”

“But ye couldn’t predict this would have happened. It’s not yer fault.” Scrooge told Della.

“Like how I couldn’t predict that I’d disappear?” Della chimed in. “I always do that! I do stupid things, I don’t think of the consequences and everybody pays for my mistakes. I should have listened to you back then, Donald. Why didn’t I listen to you? Why did I take the rocket in secret? Why am I always such a freaking idiot and...”

Suddenly, her neck got tight, and her lungs acted as if there wasn’t enough air for them. Her heart was beating so loudly that she could feel her heart beat thumping against her ear drums. Her hand quickly landed on the left side of her chest, as if that would calm down her heart. Donald and Scrooge, upon seeing her like this, rushed to her side. Some tears rolled down her cheeks, as Donald turned to Scrooge and pointed to the door, signaling for him to find something to calm Della down. As Scrooge run off, Donald turned to her sister, who was still hyperventilating in front of him.

“Della, take a deep breath! Please!” he advised his sister.

“I… can’t...” Della struggled to say, and continued breathing heavily.

Then, Scrooge appeared, holding a small water bottle, which he showed to Della for her to take. She grabbed it from his hands almost violently, opened it with trembling hands, and brought it to her beak. After a few large sips, Della emptied half the bottle, before putting its lid back in its place and placing the bottle on the table with more force than necessary.

“Ur ye better now?” Scrooge asked her.

“Yeah, I guess...” she answered as she dried off the few tears still lingering on her cheeks. “I didn’t… I’m sorry, I usually control it...”

“You usually control it?” Donald took notice, shocked. “Della, have you been having anxiety attacks and didn’t tell us anything?”

“I dunno… it’s just sometimes I feel everything choking me and it just happens to me… just like now. But I can usually tell that something is wrong and I have time to get in another room before I start having trouble breathing.” Della admitted.

“Why didn’t ye tell us something, las?” Scrooge asked and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“’Cause I can handle it. I told you; I can usually sense when that is about to happen and I get away before it gets worse.” Della answered, as if that was the only solution to an anxiety attack. “For example, that one time, Huey was talking about the Junior Woodchucks, and I started thinking about how I could have helped Huey when he first joined them and be his mentor or something if I hadn’t disappeared on the Moon. Then, I thought about how I lost the chance to be there for the boys when they were younger and how I was a terrible person and mother and, next thing you know, I rush to the other room because I was starting to hyperventilate! See? Told ya I had it other control!”

“Della, stop. You most definitely _don’t_ have it under control.” Donald told her. “If you did, you wouldn’t be having anxiety attacks in the first place, neither all these… bad thoughts...”

“Ye don’t actually believe that yer bad, do you?” Scrooge asked, concerned

“I… I don’t know.” Della replied and looked towards the floor. “But isn’t it kinda true? The only thing I do is hurt everyone else, because I can’t think of the consequences. And everyday I, and you, and everyone else, pretends that everything it’s fine, but it’s not.”

“You’re just a spontaneous person. That doesn’t mean you’re bad.” Donald commented.

“A bit spontaneous? Donald, because of my actions, my sons grew up without their mom, and I just learned they grew up without uncle Scrooge too. You were forced to raise them yourself. And now I know next to nothing about the boys, and they know next to nothing about me. Dewey had to bring out the family photo album to see what they looked like as little ducklings. I didn’t even think about asking you if you still had any photos of them growing up!” Della took a deep breath and took the bottle in her hands. “And they were so cute! And I wasn’t there to see them being cute because I was on the freaking Moon! And now I’m just that woman who is their mom and came back after 10 years and sometimes laughs creepily or acts weird, because she was on the Moon and… Ugh! I can’t take this anymore!” Della threw the bottle as hard as she could on the other side of the room, before colliding with the wall and ending up on the floor.

“And what are you going to do about it now?” Donald asked his sister, who had crossed her arms, in some pity hug she gave to herself.

“I don’t know. I just want everything to be normal, or at least as normal as they can be, after everything that happened. I know I can’t cancel out the last 10 years, but I want to stop freaking out about everything. I used to know what I was doing and I did it well. Now I’m scared that I can’t trust my mind.” Della said quietly.

“Well, what do ye want tae do?” Scrooge asked, mildly and compassionately.

“I want...” Della hesitated for a moment, before continuing. “I want to be there for the boys. And I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“Della...” Scrooge sighed, because the Della he knew was powerful and unbeatable and unstoppable. He had never seen her so desperate and hopeless. He didn’t know what to tell her to make her feel better, other than things would get better, which he knew wouldn’t be of any help.

“Of course you can be there for the boys.” Donald spoke and got closer to his sister. “But you can’t do this alone. Especially when you’re scared of looking at your reflection in the mirror. I know you’re the one who broke the bathroom’s mirror and don’t deny it. You need help.”

“And what do you want me to do?” Della asked, genuinely asking because she had no idea to do. “I can’t… I can’t be like you. You didn’t need help. You managed to raise the boys and work at the same time, all on your own. I saw the pictures… you were there for them from the beginning, all alone. You did a better job than I would under your circumstances.”

“Don’t say that...”

“I say it, because it’s true.” Della interrupted Donald.

“No, it isn’t, Della!” Donald persisted. “You have made some great mistakes, but what’s important is that you regret them. And, in this family, we make mistakes that could lead to world destruction. Your mistake had the consequences of a grammar mistake in comparison!” Della smiled a bit at her brother’s words. “You think I had any idea what I was doing when the boys hatched? I certainly didn’t! Parents never know what they’re doing! You just try your hardest to be there, hope for the best, and let nothing stop you. And you’re not alone, just like I wasn’t alone when I was raising the boys.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had the boys, and that was enough.” Donald answered. “I also asked for help to manage my anger issues. And you can manage all of your issues.”

“Really?”

“Yes. There are some very good doctors in Duckburg who can...” before Donald could finish his sentence, Della hugged Donald tight. Donald, though shocked at first, didn’t take too long to hug his sister back, by wrapping his arms tight around her.

“Thank you for everything.” Della said, and that was enough.

Scrooge smiled at the sight, because he had spent too many years believing he’d never see them hugging again, before Donald and Della grabbed him and made him join in the family hug.

* * *

“And, in this photo, we are at Funso’s Fun Zone!” Donald pointed with his finger a photograph from the photo album, which was now resting on his thighs. “I took them there for their fifth birthday.”

“They’re so happy in this photo! Aw!” Della, sitting on Donald’s right side, said ecstatically.

“Even though ah consider eating fast food an expensive activity, ah have tae admit the lads look really pleased ‘ere.” Scrooge, sitting on Donald’s left side, commented.

“Afterwards they threw hot sauce at me. I didn’t let them eat there for a year.” Donald remembered, not so fondly.

“It could have been worse. Don’t you remember that time we pushed uncle Scrooge in the pool, which hadn’t been cleaned for 5 months?” Della reminded Donald.

“If chlorine’s price hadn’t been raised 5 cents, ah would have kept it clean.” Scrooge explained. “Though ye did convince me tae clean it after that.”

“Only to not let us use it ‘till we became adults!” Donald said to Scrooge.

“It was worth it though.” Della commented.

“Totally!” Donald replied.

“If you two go on like this, ah won’t let you use the pool until the kids become adults.” Scrooge threatened Della and Donald jokingly, and smiled, because, at last, everything was how it was supposed to be in this family.

S uddenly, Dewey and Webby appeared, with messy hair and dirty clothes, exhausted and tired. Webby was holding some machine that looked like a pistol. The two kids passed in front of the three curious adults, as they headed to the kitchen, without greeting them. As Dewey continued walking to the kitchen, Webby handed the machine she was holding to Scrooge.

“Children, ur ye all right?” Scrooge asked.

“Don’t ask, please.” Dewey dryly responded, without turning his head to his grand uncle’s direction, and moved on.

“Can you return that to Gyro? We found it in his laboratory. But please don’t tell him we gave it to you.” Webby said to Scrooge and started walking towards Dewey, before turning around once more. “And don’t tell my granny you found us like that.”

Scrooge took back his initial statement;  _now_ everything was how it was supposed to be in this family

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading my story! I would appreciate it if you left kudos or comments. I'm open to constructive criticism, as long as you're nice.


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